Nancy Pelosi is getting the first test of her might under the new Democratic reality as she scrambles to extinguish a rebellion against her power to appoint lieutenants to top party posts.

Realizing they don’t have the votes to knock the defeated speaker from the top perch in party leadership, moderate Blue Dog Democrats have set their sights a little lower, targeting liberal Pelosi enforcers George Miller (D-Calif.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), all of whom hold influential jobs because Pelosi has installed them.

Pelosi has already faced down challenges to her authority from a diverse set of lawmakers who have called on her, in public and private conversations, to step aside. But this new effort to purge her best friends from the Democratic leadership will test the extent to which she still controls all the levers of party power.

The effort is being led by Reps. Dan Boren of Oklahoma and Larry Kissell of North Carolina, moderates who have asked Pelosi to step down as leader of the party after the Nov. 2 election wipeout. In addition, a pair of liberals, Reps. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, are pushing to postpone leadership elections, and dozens of Democrats have publicly or privately expressed reluctance to keep the California Democrat atop the leadership ladder.

Miller referred to some dissenters as “irrelevant” during a leadership meeting Monday, DeLauro called them “mischief-makers,” and Pelosi characterized them as “irritants,” according to Democratic insiders.

Pelosi aides say they didn’t hear some of the terms described by other sources — flatly denying that Pelosi said “irritants” — and contend that the dissent will abate a bit after lawmakers have a chance to vent their frustrations at a Tuesday caucus meeting. The speaker’s one-on-one conversations since the election have been positive, they say.

And a new round of interaction will give Pelosi another chance to “show that she and the other [leaders] are listening to the concerns of other members,” said one Pelosi aide, who acknowledged that it will take time for some frustrations to subside.

The other side, armed with a stack of amendments to caucus rules aimed at undermining Miller, DeLauro and Slaughter specifically, is fired up. Votes on the amendments would be seen as proxies for faith in Pelosi’s governing team. There is a separate effort that would create open elections for five positions that are currently filled by appointment and two new posts.

One amendment would provide for the election of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman — which is the means Republicans use to select the head of their party campaign arm.

Three others would do the same for the posts of top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, assistant to the Democratic leader and co-chairmen of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Slaughter is currently chairwoman of the Rules Committee, and Miller and DeLauro co-chair Steering and Policy.

A final amendment would create two new co-chairmanships at Steering and Policy to expand representation at the Democratic leadership table.

Attendees at Monday’s leadership meeting said it was clear Pelosi was looking for a way to stop the rebellion in its tracks. Whether that’s attempted by force of votes, fear of intimidation or quiet co-option remains to be seen.

Pelosi’s aides and other Democratic leadership sources say it’s not yet clear whether she might be open to some change that loosens her grip on power.

But one thing is very clear, they say: She won’t satisfy an angry mob by sacrificing loyalists like Miller and DeLauro.

“The speaker is committed to having her most trusted lieutenants at the table,” said a senior Democratic aide. “But she recognized the need for some changes.”

Some rank-and-file lawmakers are unhappy with the extent to which Pelosi can unilaterally reward and punish members by giving or withholding choice committee assignments and the influence that appointed deputies Miller and DeLauro exert as co-chairmen of the committee in charge of making those assignments.

The effort to tweak the rules and give rank-and-file Democrats more say over influential posts in the caucus reflects frustration over the fact that the Democratic leadership team will remain largely intact despite the Nov. 2 drubbing.

“People woke up the day after the election as afraid of Nancy Pelosi as they were the Monday before. And they shouldn’t be,” said one senior Democratic aide whose own remaining fear of retribution caused her to seek anonymity.

These caucus rules dominated an unusually long and somewhat scattered leadership meeting — a gathering described to POLITICO by some who were present as well as sources who were briefed on the conversation.

Several sources said it’s still not entirely clear what the contours of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn’s new job will be as the No. 3 Democrat. Pelosi wants the Democratic Caucus to create the position of assistant leader between the existing posts of minority whip and caucus chairman for the South Carolina Democrat. There is currently an unranked Democratic leadership job, appointed by the speaker, called “assistant to the leader.” That’s held by Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is running to be the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee.

“It’s a mess,” one Democratic leadership aide said of the scramble to organize for the next Congress.

If all goes as planned for the elected Democratic leadership team, the caucus will give each member another two-year term Wednesday: Pelosi as minority leader, Maryland’s Steny Hoyer as minority whip, Clyburn as assistant leader, Connecticut’s John Larson as caucus chairman and California’s Xavier Becerra as caucus vice chairman.

Pelosi, who faces a challenge for the minority leader job from conservative Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), is the only member of the leadership team who has opposition at this point.